Mrs. Kelly is an AP psychology and government/economics teacher at San Dimas High School. She has been teaching for a total of twenty-one years. She’s been working at San Dimas since 2020, the year of the pandemic, and before that, she taught in another school district for 15 years.
Kelly grew up in Moreno Valley and, in the middle of her sophomore year, moved to Lake Havasu, and then moved back a year and a half later to where she grew up. In high school, she was a band/theatre kid. She liked learning but was typically a C student. “I liked to learn things, but I didn’t like my classes,” Kelly continues, “I would take the easiest classes I could take, except for History, and then I would just not do my homework,” Kelly says.
Teaching wasn’t the first career choice for Kelly. At first, she went to RCC (Riverside City College) with hopes of becoming a lawyer. She decided to switch career paths after meeting her husband, who already had a son. “When we got married, I thought, I need a job where I can have a family,” Kelly says. To her, being a teacher sounded very similar to being a lawyer. “This is a job where I can help people, but I also like to research and learn things, and I thought being a teacher I could do that,” Kelly said.
Before being a teacher, she had many different jobs. Her first job at sixteen was at Rod’s Homestead Steakhouse in Lake Havasu City. She was a dishwasher and also the only person under the age of twenty-five who worked there. She described it as a really rough job.
Kelly is the eldest of five. Her mom re-married a lot so she has memories of moving around constantly. She went to six elementary schools, two middle schools, two high schools, and because of the constant moving, she had a hard time keeping and fostering friendships. “One of the hardest things about this job is that you develop a relationship with these people and then they leave you, so I’m really good at forming these temporary relationships because that’s the way I was raised,” Kelly said.
Moving around a lot created an unstable environment, which made it hard for her to develop close relationships with people. However, she’s turned that hardship into a skill that she uses when creating bonds with students.
Kelly met her husband when she was only thirteen years old. “I met him in my first year of high school. We lived two blocks from each other, we went to the same elementary and middle school for one year, and we did not start dating until I was twenty-one,” Kelly continues. “I knew who he was in high school.” Still, I don’t think we ever had a real conversation, we never had a class together, and he trick-or -treated at my house when he was a little kid.” Kelly said. Kelly’s relationship felt like the invisible string theory; it was as if they were always meant to be connected.
When rekindling with her husband in their 20’s he had already had a kid, and that’s what made Kelly want to become a teacher. After many jobs, including being a stay-at-home mom and raising a family with three boys, Mrs. Kelly found her passion for teaching. She teaches AP psychology, government/economics, and loves to crochet and travel.
